Sunday, May 5, 2013

Milan 1, Torino 0: Empty Calories

This game had the satisfaction of having eaten an entire bag
of potato chips: the thought of winning sounded delicious, but halfway through
you wished you could stop yourself, yet you had to keep going. And afterwards,
you were left thirsty and with a stomachache. Or maybe that was just me. But
the match was filled with regret and very unsatisfying, despite the importance
of the three points.

At least they unite in celebration

I have argued all season that it was our midfield, not our
defense that needed help. Today proved that it was both. Take away the one
quality player we have in the midfield and our defense lay completely exposed.
Something I really don’t know how an 18 year-old signing is going to help with.
However, losing what quality we have in the middle also showed the lack of
quality we have left. Let’s pray hard those reinforcements on the way are
quality. Although Allegri’s unwillingness to put Cristante in at all makes me
wonder if the new recruits will ever see any playing time at all.

Torino only needed one player to put us on the ropes:
Alessio Cerci. Less than two minutes in, Constant made a massive mistake that
ended up with Cerci running in on Abbiati. But Abbiati was up to the task and
had a great save. Milan returned the favor with a Muntari shot in the 8th, then
Boateng trying the rebound, forcing the double save from Gillet, who was pretty
decent himself on the night.

Abbiati is always my boy, but tonight he was the MOTM

Arguing was arguably the highlight of the half, with Muntari
arguing with the ref multiple times. Meanwhile, Milan would try to maintain
possession, take any shot opportunities they could, and attempt to defend the
counterattacks. Like Barreto’s 1v1 opportunity in the 16th that Abbiati saved
yet again. In the 35th, Constant showed some great defense, redeeming himself for
his earlier mistake. Abate ruled the right flank with crosses that got wasted,
but wasn’t as quick to defend. Nocerino started taking corners, then Balotelli
took over, leaving the box void of our biggest target. There were clashes of
heads and attempted headers. And finally, after a number of fouls that went
uncalled, in the 39th, Balotelli actually had a foul against him called.

The second half was a lot more of the same. Except with
yellow cards. In the 49th, D’Amato gave Mexes a yellow for a handball. Then in
the 56th, Allegri pulled off El Shaarawy, who was struggling to create chances,
struggling with an inflamed ankle, struggling with tendonitis, struggling with
fatigue… he was struggling. So he sent on Pazzini, who started the hunt almost
immediately. More Muntari arguing,
Barreto taking two shots back to back, Abbiati saving the one ,the other going
over the crossbar. More yellow for tired, reckless tackles – Muntari earned his
yellow in the 73rd, Boateng just a minute later. Boateng will miss Pescara
midweek due to card accumulation. In the 76th, Allegri perhaps had his typical
“Boateng is not a meazz’ala” epiphany and subbed him off for Niang, who
actually is a striker.

One goal was all we needed

In the 81st, Allegri brought Robinho on for Flamini, one can never have too many
strikers. But I think he found Robinho’s sweet spot: give him less than 10
minutes, three other strikers, and the worst midfield imaginable, he will
actually look good. He had a great shot forcing a Gillet save after less than a
minute on the field. Then, Allegri’s “throw on all the strikers” mentality was
validated when Mexes’ header was slotted in by Balotelli. 1-0 Milan. But of
course, scoring his 9th goal in 10 games was reason for celebration, so
Balotelli was given a yellow card for pulling off his shirt. Only Muntari
walked too close to the ref as he was pulling out his card, and had
to hand the card back to the ref in order for Balotelli to actually be
carded. Meggiorini and Balotelli each attempted shots in stoppage time, and the
game was over.

Tactics: Allegri reminding Balotelli where the goal is, just in case

So we got the three points. Not sure if they were deserved,
but Allegri survives to be confirmed another day. With Fiorentina’s late loss
yesterday, we sit four points clear in third place. A win against already
relegated Pescara on Wednesday could potentially seal our Champions League
dreams for next year. But if we play another match like this, we could still
miss out on those dreams. I know it’s late in the season, and what a long
season it has been. I know we have key injuries, but this is when we find out
if we really have a team or not. If they can dig deep, find a sense of urgency,
and have players step up to fill the voids, then we can still earn that
Champions League spot for next year. Given the upheaval and changes this year,
that might seem like quite the miracle. But with the luck we’ve had and games
like this, we will be lucky to have only a stomachache after so many empty calories.
I would gladly take a stomachache into the Champions League this year. And now
for those potato chips…